“A melodic journal recollecting my childhood and study guide to rebuilding the once broken foundation of my spiritual temple.” That’s how California’s Abraham Linkedin describes album New Castle. A collection of songs drawing on chillwave and hauntological styles to conjure the forgotten past and unrealised futures simultaneously. With its rich and textured tones overlaying the languid vocals, single ‘En Garde’ introduces the style, though New Castle’s true value is as a complete album.

Allison Lorenzen – Vale (feat. Midwife)

Back in November we wrote about Tender, an album by Allison Lorenzen on Whited Sepulchre Records. “A subversion of the traditional healing narrative,” as we described it. “A rejection of linear progress, an acknowledgement of the uneven topography of life.” Lorenzen has now teamed up with Jack Manzi’s Silver Island Studios for a series of videos, most recently for the single ‘Vale’ which sees her return to the mountains of Colorado. The landscape changes as Lorenzen walks the road, though quick cuts and close-up shots upend a simple sense of progression and speak to the song’s ethereal strangeness.

Tender is out now via Whited Sepulchre and you can get it from Bandcamp.

chemical club – Hell in a Heatwave

Ontario-based duo chemical club have made their name with a series of lo-fi bedroom pop releases, most recently following on from 2021 EP Arm’s Length with numerous singles on Arts & Crafts. The latest of these is ‘Hell in a Heatwave’, a subdued pop hit simmering beneath the surface with equal parts suffering and desire to change. The track takes “an honest look at who you are and how you can improve upon that,” the band explain. “Leaving unhealthy habits behind and holding yourself accountable for your own actions and behaviours.” Even if this requires a certain degree of discomfort in the immediate moment.

‘Hell in a Heatwave’ is out now via Arts & Crafts and you can get it from their webstore.

Faye – Teeth

Charlotte duo Faye are set to release their brand new record You’re Better on Self Aware Records, and latest single ‘Teeth’ gives an indication of the direction the band have taken since their self-titled EP. A building sense of energy, an escalation, the various elements spiralling in increasingly smaller circles like a spring coiling tighter and tighter, always threatening to explode. “I am the hand, you are the teeth,” sings Sarah Blumenthal, fighting to be heard above the descending noise.

Frankie Cosmos – One Year Stand

This autumn Frankie Cosmos will release Inner World Peace, their fifth full-length record via Sub Pop. In anticipation, the band (founding member Greta Kline, keyboardist Lauren Martin, guitarist/bassist Alex bailey and drummer Luke Pyenson) have released lead single ‘One Year Stand’, the album’s soft and patient centrepiece which proves the perfect introduction to a record which approaches existential questions of selfhood and quantum time with patience and kindness. The track comes complete with a video directed by Eliza Lu Doyle and starring Kline and Bailey. “It feels like an encapsulation of the record in that it’s strange and vast while also being contained and interior,” Kline explains. “Clowning and playing are a huge part of collaborating for me and Eliza. We wanted to perform a dance without dancing — the kind of movements you fall into in private, banal moments, playing without even realizing.”

Inner World Peace will be released via Sub Pop on 21st October. Pre-order it now via the Frankie Cosmos Bandcamp page.

Horatio James – they will have us

Led by singer songwriter James Gable, London‘s Horatio James write folk songs and then bend them into new and interesting shapes. New single ‘they will have us’ was written on bouzouki and takes elements of classic British folk and pop to create something that feels somehow both fresh and timeless. Gable is joined on the track by Marina Ritschel (vocals), Oli Fenton (drums) and Tristan Gable (electric guitar), fleshing out what could have been a hushed acoustic song into something dynamic and subtly infectious, an incense-scented indie pop song perfect for these long summer evenings.

Joyeria – Colour Film

Ahead of new EP FIM out via Speedy Wunderground this autumn, Canada-born, London-based project Joyeria have unveiled brand new single, ‘Colour Film’. A slacker rock gem that sits somewhere between David Berman and Nap Eyes. “‘Colour Film’ is about the mindless daily routine of being alive,” Joyeria explains. “What David Foster Wallace called ‘water’. I apparently have the ability to choose how I feel or think as I participate in being alive just as I can choose how I feel and think when I explain songs.” Of course it’s not as easy as Wallace might have intimated, something Joyeria highlights through his wry and volatile style. Check the video directed by Alex Bischof below:

FIM is out via Speedy Wunderground on 14th October and you can pre-order it now.

Tender Glue – Simple Boys

Tender Glue is the project of New York‘s Tom Gluewicki, who makes indie pop that spans the spectrum, from light and catchy to introspective and emotional. Latest single ‘Simple Boys’ sits at the breezy end of things, a summertime bop that pairs punchy percussion with laidback guitar and Gluewicki’s raw vocals. Lyrically, it’s a wryly humorous ode to the titular “simple boys”, those men who never really grow up and despite being annoying, just want the same simple things as everyone else.

‘Simple Boys’ is out now via Don’t Label Me Records and available from the Tender Glue Bandcamp page.

Thanya Iyer – leave the room and face the waves

“Rest is in many ways a reflection of myself,” explains Thanya Iyer of her latest release on Topshelf Records. An EP which asks, “who am I when it all stops?” Following on from successful debut KIND, the collection finds Iyer amid the slowdown of the pandemic and removed from the communities of making and performing music. The obligatory isolation could be faced in a variety of ways, but Iyer chose to be embrace it and use it purposefully. A period in which to examine what it means to rest in our busy world. With its slinky, jazz-flavoured tones, single ‘leave the room and face the waves’ finds much richness within the quiet, even if dreams inevitably turn toward the outside world. Check out the video Iyer created along with Sophie Grouev and Amanda Stormyr below:

rest is out on 24th August via Topshelf Records and you can pre-order it now.

Upchuck – Boss up

Based in Atlanta, punk five-piece Upchuck were brought together by “connections made in skateboarding, construction, and teenage delinquency.” Next month they will release their debut album Sense Yourself on Famous Class Records, a collection of what the label calls “haunting tales of discrimination, ignorance, and life in a doomed generation.” Lead single ‘Boss Up’ is indicative of the record as a whole, a slice of furious punk intended to empower and strengthen. As the press release continues “Only the wise and relentless will thrive in a revolutionized and radical world, and Upchuck is sternly feeding the fuel for a new gen.”

Where’s Beth – Come Inside

Based in New York, Where’s Beth creates a lush brand of folk able to weave intricate details into a seamless whole. Latest single ‘Come Inside’ is the perfect example, the gentle hushed tones belying the track’s underlying nuance, threads spun to hold the listener within a quiet space. “Come into my quiet,” implore the vocals, “there’s no one else there sometimes,” but by then we need no such offer. They are already held tightly within. Watch the animated video by James Geneser below:

‘Come Inside’ is out now and available from the Where’s Beth Bandcamp page.

Young Jesus – Ocean

Though always orbiting around the distinctive ideas and lyricism of lead John Rossiter, the music of Young Jesus is always changing. Each new release has felt like a new attempt to get closer to essence of what they are trying to say. Different angles, a reframing of things, as though never quite satisfied the last record communicated as completely and efficiently as it might have hoped. Out via Saddle Creek later this year, latest album Shepherd Head is no different, Rossiter again reshuffling the pack and dealing a new hand. He weaves a fine patchwork crafted from found sounds as though life itself lie within its constituent parts. A tapestry both vulnerable and tender, where great loss and transcendence are not so different after all. First single ‘Ocean’ invites Tomberlin aboard, and you can watch the video directed by Stuart McClave below:

Shepherd Head will be released via Saddle Creek on 16th September. You can order it now from the Young Jesus Bandcamp page.

The post Weekly Listening: August 2022 #2 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklist:

Field Medic – henna tattoo
Leggy – Taffy
Myshiuno – Turf War In Chinatown, SF
Press Club – Suburbia
Shady Bug – Make it Up
Calicoco – Anchor Park
LUNCH – Forget Everything
krissanthemum – Honesty Hour
Wy – Pavements
UV Rays – Flowerhead
Fanclub – Stranger
Jeffrey Silverstein – Easy Rider
Ryan Dugré – Tonight
Okay Embrace – Phantom Text
Samia – Lasting Friend
community college – karaoke
runnner – eggshell
Fields of Heaven – Song of Loss
Minor Moon – Hold Me Up (Liar)
Lampland – You Little Liar
Westkust – Swebeach
kate can wait – licantropía
Bleeder – Rusted and Raw
Laveda – Dream Sleep
Pass/Ages – As It Rises
Yuri Tománek – In the end, we all fade away
Tender Glue – Dear Peri
Red Wedding – Bones
Women Tied to Railroad Tracks – Endless Carpet
Eyesore & the Jinx – On An Island
Bellows – What Can I Tell You About the World?
Merival – Sinner
Vassals – Lil Anvil
The This – The Strangest Ritual
Breakup Films – You Said You Hate Not Seeing Me
The Phone Booth – Healthcare
Seamstress – Everything
Zelma Stone – Light Bulb Boy
Charlotte Cornfield – Andrew
Wicketkeeper – Night Night (Whatever)
a. harlana – faces
Lady Dan – What Sanity
Tesha – Funeral

The post February 2019 Roundup Mix appeared first on Various Small Flames.

runnner – eggshell

runnner is the project of Noah Weinman and Nate Lichtenberger, who make muic that they describe as “fus[ing] electronic and experimental elements into ragged, heart-on-your-sleeve folk-rock.” In May last year we premiered a video from their debut album Awash, and now the band are readying a follow-up EP entitled Fan On. In anticipation, runnner have released the first single, ‘eggshell’, a song that sees them inject a little lo-fi folk aesthetic into their bedroom pop. It’s something like the breezily reflective folk pop of Pinegrove meets the kitchen-based everyday introspection of early Trace Mountains. Lyrically the song is both smart and sad, probably the most affecting song you’ll hear about cooking eggs all year.

Stay tuned to the runnner Bandcamp page for news on the new EP.

Wy – Pavements

We wrote about ‘Gone Wild’ by Malmö’s Wy back in 2017, describing the track as “representing the sensation of being stuck in your own head, a vast lonely place that’s somehow claustrophobic too.” The track was taken from Okay, an album which existed within a great cloudy haze of atmosphere and emotion, though latest single ‘Pavements’ expands upon the record’s style and pushes into more urgent, aggressive territory. The evolution serves to increase the intensity and ferocity of the Wy sound, the insistent rhythm driving Ebba’s ominously threatening vocals and forthright lyrics.

‘Pavements’ is out now via Hybris.

Westkust – Swebeach

Based in Gothenburg, rock band Westkust have been quiet since the the release of Last Forever back in 2015, though this year will see that put right with a self-titled album with Run For Cover Records. Lead single ‘Swebeach’ gives an indication of what to expect, fun-filled garage rock as filtered through a shoegaze prism, Julia Bjernelind’s vocals emerging through the wall of noise with a sense of assurance and warmth, like a hand reaching out in the dark.

Merival – Sinner

Merival, the project led by Toronto’s Anna Horvath, make lush and emotive songs that combine self-searching introspection with slow-burning catharsis. Their latest single ‘Sinner’ is what Horvath describes as a song “about being caught between two places, one known and comfortable, and the other intoxicatingly new and impossible to avoid.” It combines the lyricism commonly associated with folk with sparse guitar arrangements and confident vocal delivery. The sense of grand emotion is heightened in the track’s second half as elegant strings weave onto the scene, proving that you don’t need to write a sad-sounding song to convey real feeling.

You can buy ‘Sinner’ from the Merival Bandcamp page.

community college – novocaine / karaoke

The side project of Horse Jumper of Love bassist John Margaris, community college are readying their debut album on Disposable America. Joined by his brother Dan on drums and fellow Horse Jumper Dimitri Giannopolous on bass, Margaris makes downbeat lo-fi pop songs that are nevertheless crunchy and catchy. The opening two tracks have been released into the wild early, and both ‘novocaine’ and ‘karaoke’ are short and moreish, the former feeling as numbed as the title suggests, while the latter has a bit more life, tentatively shambling towards glorious basement indie rock.

You can pre-order comco now from the Disposable America Bandcamp page.

Seamstress – Everything

New Jersey’s Gabriella Chavez met Charlie Sztyk in their local music scene, and the pair formed Seamstress, a band that take Chavez’s personal history of heartbreak and moulds it into songs that sweep and shift around a solid emotional core. Their latest single, ‘Everything’ is a case in point, a vulnerable admission of the difficulty of communication in trying times. Chavez’s vocals sound strong and still despite this sense of fragile yearning, resulting in the kind of sincere folk rock that Sharon van Etten has made her own.

I don’t wanna talk about it, anymore,
I don’t wanna talk about it

Tender Glue – Dear Peri

Tender Glue is Tom Gluewicki, born and raised in Poland but now residing in New York. ‘Dear Peri’ is a track from the latest Tender Glue album, Closet Leftovers, an achingly emotive song inspired by the death of a Polish climber on Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas. The Peri of the title is a ghost of local legend which protects the mountain, and the lyrics confront imagined details of the climber’s last moments as he succumbs to the will of the mountain. Built on an anchoring guitar line, the song sways with waves of atmospherics as Gluewicki’s vocals deliver his words with an intense melancholy.

Closet Leftovers is out now and available from the Tender Glue Bandcamp page.

Charlotte Cornfield – Andrew

Charlotte Cornfield is a singer-songwriter from Toronto. Her third LP, The Shape of Your Name, is on its way in the Spring, and is set to feature a stellar cast of collaborators, including Leif Vollebekk and Brendan Canning, Kevin Drew and Charles Spearin (all of Broken Social Scene). In anticipation of release, Cornfield has unveiled the record’s first single, ‘Andrew’. She describes the song as a “reminder to step back and look at the bigger picture instead of dwelling on the minutiae,” and says that it could be about a partner both platonic or romantic. The press release promises something contemplative and contemporary, funny and heart-wrenching, and Cornfield makes good on the pledge, creating a folk rock song that feels both spry and tender, a clear-eyed and confident confrontation with the truth of a situation.

The Shape of Your Name will be released on the 5th April via Outside Music’s new imprint Next Door Records.

Zelma Stone – Light Bulb Boy

Zelma Stone are from San Francisco, with lead Chloe Zelma joined by Haley Pan (bass), Jake Kissner (drums), Jewelz (keys) and Kevin Fielding (lead guitar). Citing Big Thief and Angel Olsen as major influences, the band have recently released their debut EP, Layla, which promises to “channel grief and pain into a dreamy soundscape of empowering arrangements and addictive melodies.” ‘Light Bulb Boy’ is the third track on that EP, a song that builds from mellow folk rock beginnings into something altogether more stirring.

Being here where things are breakable
I guess we’ve chosen this path
It’s a long familiar road now darling
and these seasons just keep on coming back

Field Medic – henna tattoo

We’ve been fans of Field Medic, aka Kevin Patrick, for a long time here at VSF, and have been pleased to watch his progress as he has made music his full-time endeavour. His latest album, fade into the dawn, is on the way via Run For Cover Records, a release that promises to blend “black humour and bold introspection” to find meaning in the mundane. As a taster, Field Medic has unveiled first single, ‘henna tattoo’, a characteristically sincere song recorded to 4-track tape recorder. Acoustic guitar is joined by Patrick’s earnest vocals and subtle beats from his drum machine, making for a track that lands at the folkier end of the bedroom pop spectrum.

fade into the dawn will be released on Run For Cover Records on 19th April, and you can pre-order it now from their website or Bandcamp page.

Shady Bug – Make it Up

The latest addition to the ranks of Exploding in Sound, Shady Bug are an indie rock band from St Louis. Their forthcoming album Lemon Lime is due to be released next month. The first single, ‘Make It Up’ is available to stream right now, and it’s immediately apparent that their sound feels right at home next to their new label mates. Lead Hannah Rainey says the song is about sharing Sprite with a crush, although the sweetness is offset somewhat by the chorus which covers worries both personal and what Rainey describes to Flood Magazine as “anxiety caused by the trees blooming early and dying in my neighborhood because of global warming.” The thrashing, cathartic finale helps too, proving that Shady Bug have the indie rock chops to support their fun songwriting.

Pre-order Lemon Lime now from the Exploding in Sound Bandcamp page and the Shady Bug Bandcamp page.

UV Rays – Flowerhead

Though originating as the solo project of Adrien DeFontaine, Brooklyn’s UV Rays soon grew into a four piece and found their groove as a raucous indie rock band. New single ‘Flowerhead’ serves as a great introduction for the uninitiated, driven forward by the drums and vocals of  Erica Warner, the guitars and bass surging behind with warm energy—like a shoegaze track as imagined by a power pop band, all melancholy blown away by the sheer momentum.

‘Flowerhead’ is taken from the band’s debut EP, Try and Begin, which is set for release on the 1st March, so keep an eye on the UV Rays Bandcamp page.

a. harlana – faces

Juno Roome leads a. harlana, a band that make gauzy and vaporous ambient pop songs with a raw and emotional edge. They have recently released an EP, ada belle, three tracks that shift and swirl with dreamy feeling, or as the press release accurately puts it, “elegaic, elegant, enigmatic and extra-good.” ‘Faces’ is the initial standout, a 7+ minute lesson in patience and atmosphere, lingering like tendrils of fog over sparkling guitar and lovelorn vocals. The overall aura is one of yearning, especially with the final line of “but i can’t seem to will your face next to mine.”

Okay Embrace – Phantom Text

We first featured David Schaefer’s Okay Embrace back in November when we premiered their single, ‘Moving’. “The delivery has a breathless quality,” we wrote of the track. “like the words of a person who has withheld their feelings for too long, the mounting pressure breaching some threshold and spewing forth in manic flow.” ‘Phantom Text’ is the second song from the release Moving/Improving, a song that builds from uncertain beginnings and kicks into a tighter rhythm. Again, the track builds into an increasingly pressing emotional state, bringing to mind the likes of Bright Eyes and Slaughter Beach, Dog in its ability to craft personal struggles into affirming, searching tunes.

Moving/Improving is available now from the Okay Embrace Bandcamp page.

Lady Dan – What Sanity

Working out of Texas but with roots in Birmingham, Alabama, Lady Dan makes music which is self-described as “Melancholic cowboy sounds you can cry in front of your cat to.” Taken from a forthcoming EP, ‘What Sanity’ takes this aesthetic and runs in the direction of unrequited love, detailing the soul-sucking sensation of falling for someone when they are indifferent to your very existence.

Bellows – What Can I Tell You About the World?

Recording as Bellows, Oliver Kalb has made his name as an interesting, ambitious songwriter that deals in heartfelt honesty. The Rose Gardener, his forth record that’s coming soon on Topshelf Records, looks set to continue the trend, stretching the limits of the bedroom pop genre and calling into question the use of such terms. Still, leads single ‘What Can I Tell You About the World?’ keeps things simple, a humble, touching folk song that comes complete with an intimate video from Richard Gin, setting the tone for an album that looks to address the poisonous culture of judgement and loneliness that marks the contemporary Western experience.

The Rose Gardener will be released on Topshelf Records on the 22nd February and you can get it on Bandcamp.

The This – The Strangest Ritual

Beginning life as a solo project of Evan Matthiesen, the ungoogleable Victoria, B.C. band THE THIS put out a debut EP back in 2017, and have since followed up with a series of single in preparation for a full length album. After the dejected weariness of ‘Casual Encounters’, the band are back with ‘The Strangest Ritual’, a frantic slice of punk rock that trades any hesitancy for frantic forward motion. As Matthiesen shouts over runaway instrumentation, you get the sense that the song is determined to have a good time despite whatever might be happening around it, as though fun and assured energy can be willed into existence with enough desire and dedication.

Bleeder – Rusted and Raw

Bleeder is the recording project of Shelby Smoak a writer and musician who focuses much of his attention on his experiences as a haemophiliac. His memoir, also titled Bleeder, was published by Michigan State University Press back in 2013, detailing the quest for life and love when suffering from haemophilia and HIV, with what Joanna Smith Rakoff described as “not just brutal honesty, but also with humour and grace.”

Bleeder the band emerged from the book’s ashes, looking to explore similar themes through a different form and tone. The second video in the outfit’s Singles Series, ‘Rusted and Raw’ takes the emotion, fear and loneliness of the memoir and weaves it into a wistfully retro brand of indie rock—once again breathing human life into a story of suffering and perseverance.

You can find all previous editions of Bright Sparks here, and why not check out our monthly roundup mixes?

The post Bright Sparks: Vol. 21 appeared first on Various Small Flames.